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The First-Class Passenger
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Published January 1, 2011
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About the author
Anton Chekhov
5,951 books9,854 followers
Antón Chéjov
(Spanish)
Dramas, such as The Seagull (1896, revised 1898), and including "A Dreary Story" (1889) of Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, also Chekov, concern the inability of humans to communicate.
Born ( Антон Павлович Чехов ) in the small southern seaport of Taganrog, the son of a grocer. His grandfather, a serf, bought his own freedom and that of his three sons in 1841. He also taught to read. A cloth merchant fathered Yevgenia Morozova, his mother.
"When I think back on my childhood," Chekhov recalled, "it all seems quite gloomy to me." Tyranny of his father, religious fanaticism, and long nights in the store, open from five in the morning till midnight, shadowed his early years. He attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog from 1867 to 1868 and then Taganrog grammar school. Bankruptcy of his father compelled the family to move to Moscow. At the age of 16 years in 1876, independent Chekhov for some time alone in his native town supported through private tutoring.
In 1879, Chekhov left grammar school and entered the university medical school at Moscow. In the school, he began to publish hundreds of short comics to support his mother, sisters and brothers. Nicholas Leikin published him at this period and owned Oskolki (splinters), the journal of Saint Petersburg. His subjected silly social situations, marital problems, and farcical encounters among husbands, wives, mistresses, and lust; even after his marriage, Chekhov, the shy author, knew not much of whims of young women.
Nenunzhaya pobeda , first novel of Chekhov, set in 1882 in Hungary, parodied the novels of the popular Mór Jókai. People also mocked ideological optimism of Jókai as a politician.
Chekhov graduated in 1884 and practiced medicine. He worked from 1885 in Peterburskaia gazeta.
In 1886, Chekhov met H.S. Suvorin, who invited him, a regular contributor, to work for Novoe vremya, the daily paper of Saint Petersburg. He gained a wide fame before 1886. He authored The Shooting Party , his second full-length novel, later translated into English. Agatha Christie used its characters and atmosphere in later her mystery novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd . First book of Chekhov in 1886 succeeded, and he gradually committed full time. The refusal of the author to join the ranks of social critics arose the wrath of liberal and radical intelligentsia, who criticized him for dealing with serious social and moral questions but avoiding giving answers. Such leaders as Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Leskov, however, defended him. "I'm not a liberal, or a conservative, or a gradualist, or a monk, or an indifferentist. I should like to be a free artist and that's all..." Chekhov said in 1888.
The failure of The Wood Demon , play in 1889, and problems with novel made Chekhov to withdraw from literature for a period. In 1890, he traveled across Siberia to Sakhalin, remote prison island. He conducted a detailed census of ten thousand convicts and settlers, condemned to live on that harsh island. Chekhov expected to use the results of his research for his doctoral dissertation. Hard conditions on the island probably also weakened his own physical condition. From this journey came his famous travel book.
Chekhov practiced medicine until 1892. During these years, Chechov developed his concept of the dispassionate, non-judgmental author. He outlined his program in a letter to his brother Aleksandr: "1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of political-social-economic nature; 2. total objectivity; 3. truthful descriptions of persons and objects; 4. extreme brevity; 5. audacity and originality; flee the stereotype; 6. compassion." Because he objected that the paper conducted against [a:Alfred Dreyfu
Dramas, such as The Seagull (1896, revised 1898), and including "A Dreary Story" (1889) of Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, also Chekov, concern the inability of humans to communicate.
Born ( Антон Павлович Чехов ) in the small southern seaport of Taganrog, the son of a grocer. His grandfather, a serf, bought his own freedom and that of his three sons in 1841. He also taught to read. A cloth merchant fathered Yevgenia Morozova, his mother.
"When I think back on my childhood," Chekhov recalled, "it all seems quite gloomy to me." Tyranny of his father, religious fanaticism, and long nights in the store, open from five in the morning till midnight, shadowed his early years. He attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog from 1867 to 1868 and then Taganrog grammar school. Bankruptcy of his father compelled the family to move to Moscow. At the age of 16 years in 1876, independent Chekhov for some time alone in his native town supported through private tutoring.
In 1879, Chekhov left grammar school and entered the university medical school at Moscow. In the school, he began to publish hundreds of short comics to support his mother, sisters and brothers. Nicholas Leikin published him at this period and owned Oskolki (splinters), the journal of Saint Petersburg. His subjected silly social situations, marital problems, and farcical encounters among husbands, wives, mistresses, and lust; even after his marriage, Chekhov, the shy author, knew not much of whims of young women.
Nenunzhaya pobeda , first novel of Chekhov, set in 1882 in Hungary, parodied the novels of the popular Mór Jókai. People also mocked ideological optimism of Jókai as a politician.
Chekhov graduated in 1884 and practiced medicine. He worked from 1885 in Peterburskaia gazeta.
In 1886, Chekhov met H.S. Suvorin, who invited him, a regular contributor, to work for Novoe vremya, the daily paper of Saint Petersburg. He gained a wide fame before 1886. He authored The Shooting Party , his second full-length novel, later translated into English. Agatha Christie used its characters and atmosphere in later her mystery novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd . First book of Chekhov in 1886 succeeded, and he gradually committed full time. The refusal of the author to join the ranks of social critics arose the wrath of liberal and radical intelligentsia, who criticized him for dealing with serious social and moral questions but avoiding giving answers. Such leaders as Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Leskov, however, defended him. "I'm not a liberal, or a conservative, or a gradualist, or a monk, or an indifferentist. I should like to be a free artist and that's all..." Chekhov said in 1888.
The failure of The Wood Demon , play in 1889, and problems with novel made Chekhov to withdraw from literature for a period. In 1890, he traveled across Siberia to Sakhalin, remote prison island. He conducted a detailed census of ten thousand convicts and settlers, condemned to live on that harsh island. Chekhov expected to use the results of his research for his doctoral dissertation. Hard conditions on the island probably also weakened his own physical condition. From this journey came his famous travel book.
Chekhov practiced medicine until 1892. During these years, Chechov developed his concept of the dispassionate, non-judgmental author. He outlined his program in a letter to his brother Aleksandr: "1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of political-social-economic nature; 2. total objectivity; 3. truthful descriptions of persons and objects; 4. extreme brevity; 5. audacity and originality; flee the stereotype; 6. compassion." Because he objected that the paper conducted against [a:Alfred Dreyfu
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 8, 2022
easy to picture the scene painted in this short story - the conversation in the train carriage.
the story itself was an amusing musing on fame and recognition - who and what is recognised.
it's not too hard to think of it as a comment on both class and celebrity - the generally unrecognised people who create important things, like the buildings we live in, farm the food we eat... compared to the disproportionate recognition that social standing and/or celebrity generate.
the story itself was an amusing musing on fame and recognition - who and what is recognised.
it's not too hard to think of it as a comment on both class and celebrity - the generally unrecognised people who create important things, like the buildings we live in, farm the food we eat... compared to the disproportionate recognition that social standing and/or celebrity generate.
February 9, 2022
One man ranting that the world doesn't recognize him for his work while people who don't work as much as he does get more atttention and fame.
If he existed in today's time, he would have posted something against influencers on his twitter. Repeatedly.
If he existed in today's time, he would have posted something against influencers on his twitter. Repeatedly.
November 4, 2025
Humorous, absurd, yet true. That’s exactly how this short story lands.
July 26, 2025
Short Stories by Anton Chekhov, Ladies, The First Class Passenger and other
10 out of 10
The First Class Passenger
Of the short stories that this reader has finished over the past few days, taking up again this magnum opus, which is included on the list of Top 100 Books of All Time https://www.theguardian.com/world/200... , The First Class Passenger appears to have such a good analysis of a phenomenon that was familiar for the middle of the nineteenth century and has been exacerbated ever since, especially in the age of Instagram, Facebook and social media in general.
In this short story, The First Class Passenger complains to an interlocutor of the obscurity in which men – mostly at that time – of value are forced to live, while individuals with no merit are made famous by the newspaper…jump one hundred and fifty years in time and we have not just people with no skills or abilities making headlines, but the ultimate scoundrel and kook had been promoted to the highest office, the most powerful position in the world, only because he had been a celebrity on The Apprentice show – the multitude, about seventy million cult members still ignore the lies, ineptitudes, crazy things this man has done and made others do and worship the fellow that had provoked an insurrection, a traitor…
While the character in The First Class Passenger complains of the cocotte and others like her that steal the attention when important events take place – he is the one who had built a bridge and when a ceremony is organized for the opening, instead of the engineer receiving the honors, he is ignored and men are absorbing the movements and presence of a person devoid of talent, but somewhat alluring – the world of this day and age is less fortunate, for if only a few would have heard of that singer, even if she had her picture in a newspaper, nowadays the ‘former media influencer’, as the Saturday night Show has labeled him, the very stable genius and others like him are much more dangerous and their conspiracy theories, insurrections – and erections, as mentioned in a Freudian slip in the Senate – catch an immense audience, often made up of men and women with small IQ and maybe no EQ…
A Chorus Girl
In this tale, the wife of a cheating man comes to confront the Chorus Girl, for her children – the wife’s – are left with no money and she wants the lover to give back what the husband has taken from the mouths of his boys and girls and wasted on the girl…the latter responds first that she does not know a married man who is visiting her, then she insists the man has come of his own volition, she has had nothing to do with his visits and when the spouse insists, she maintains that she has received nothing from the fellow…later, she takes some small jewelry and says that she would gladly give this, which is the only thing received from the accused, together with some small pastry…small pastry, and the children are starving, responds the wife, who keeps her assault on the gifts, the jewelry on which the cheating scoundrel has spent the family money and her persistence pays off, in that the Chorus Girl takes out some earrings, broche and other objects, claiming that others have given them and when the spouse is still furious that all this amounts to only five hundred roubles, she adds the watch and whatever else she can find…the paradox and the nadir of humility is reached once the poor woman leaves, the husband comes out from a different room, overwhelmed by the lowering of his wife in front of such a ‘base girl’, who more or less means nothing, making it clear that all those involved in this triangle of love and even more hatred are placed in the most vicious position, a cheated wife, an abused lover and an insulting, vile husband…
Ladies
This short story reminds the under signed, and surely others from the same country, of our best author, Ion Luca Caragiale http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/04/o... whose satire incriminated corruption, nepotism, influence peddling, abuse of power, selfishness, cowardice, which are sentiments, feelings, shortcomings exposed in Ladies, where we find that a teacher had lost his voice and thus he is facing the director of the school, who says that he has to fire a man that has lost his ability to teach, but also feels obliged towards the individual who has done nothing wrong and has been hit by a potential calamitous loss…the director thinks what he can do, how to get out of this quandary and then eureka, he is happy to remember that they have a clerk who is leaving and thus the position is available and would be given to the teacher that has to stop attending classes…alas, Natasha Ivanovna, the wife of the principal, had already promised the position as a favor to one of her acquaintances and she presses the husband to understand that there is no way out of that pledge and though he is infuriated, hostile to this development that annihilates his own decision, he would play along, and when the poor unemployed is facing him again, the director is pouring his fury, inadequacy, feeling of guilt and vile character over the unfortunate, shouting…there is no job for you!
Romance with Double Bass
Perhaps we can end this note on the short stories of Anton Chekhov with a more amusing tale, which has a musician who plays the bass at the center and Princess Bibelova…the man enters this river to swim and when he reaches the shore back from his taking his pleasure, he finds that his clothes have been stolen and he has to think of a way out of the conundrum…the result of the analysis of the situation is that he will find refuge under a nearby bridge, until it gets dark, when he will escape and find some clothes at a house nearby, without being able to go and play music at the house of Prince Bibelov…nearby, Princess Bibelova has a problem with the hook of her fishing rod, which is entangled and when she enters the water to free it, upon return she finds she is without clothes and has the same strategy of hiding under the bridge where she finds the musician…the latter offers refuge in the case of the bass, assuring the girl that this way he and others will not be able to see her in the embarrassing position in which she has been placed and later, he will take her in the case and thus her ordeal will be ended…
As he puts his plan in motion though, the musician sees on the road the two people he suspects, or he is sure, that have taken his and the princess’ clothes and leaves the case – which is quite heavy, as we can imagine – on the road, to be able to catch up with the suspected thieves, but while he tries to get them, his colleagues pass by, see the case, realize it belongs to their friend and take it – confessing in the process that they would never choose to play the bass, seeing how heavy the instrument is – and when our protagonist returns, there is no case and he is forced to wonder around, return from under the bridge the next day and then another day, to the point where there is a legend in that area that at night, people can see a naked man coming out from under the bridge…
10 out of 10
The First Class Passenger
Of the short stories that this reader has finished over the past few days, taking up again this magnum opus, which is included on the list of Top 100 Books of All Time https://www.theguardian.com/world/200... , The First Class Passenger appears to have such a good analysis of a phenomenon that was familiar for the middle of the nineteenth century and has been exacerbated ever since, especially in the age of Instagram, Facebook and social media in general.
In this short story, The First Class Passenger complains to an interlocutor of the obscurity in which men – mostly at that time – of value are forced to live, while individuals with no merit are made famous by the newspaper…jump one hundred and fifty years in time and we have not just people with no skills or abilities making headlines, but the ultimate scoundrel and kook had been promoted to the highest office, the most powerful position in the world, only because he had been a celebrity on The Apprentice show – the multitude, about seventy million cult members still ignore the lies, ineptitudes, crazy things this man has done and made others do and worship the fellow that had provoked an insurrection, a traitor…
While the character in The First Class Passenger complains of the cocotte and others like her that steal the attention when important events take place – he is the one who had built a bridge and when a ceremony is organized for the opening, instead of the engineer receiving the honors, he is ignored and men are absorbing the movements and presence of a person devoid of talent, but somewhat alluring – the world of this day and age is less fortunate, for if only a few would have heard of that singer, even if she had her picture in a newspaper, nowadays the ‘former media influencer’, as the Saturday night Show has labeled him, the very stable genius and others like him are much more dangerous and their conspiracy theories, insurrections – and erections, as mentioned in a Freudian slip in the Senate – catch an immense audience, often made up of men and women with small IQ and maybe no EQ…
A Chorus Girl
In this tale, the wife of a cheating man comes to confront the Chorus Girl, for her children – the wife’s – are left with no money and she wants the lover to give back what the husband has taken from the mouths of his boys and girls and wasted on the girl…the latter responds first that she does not know a married man who is visiting her, then she insists the man has come of his own volition, she has had nothing to do with his visits and when the spouse insists, she maintains that she has received nothing from the fellow…later, she takes some small jewelry and says that she would gladly give this, which is the only thing received from the accused, together with some small pastry…small pastry, and the children are starving, responds the wife, who keeps her assault on the gifts, the jewelry on which the cheating scoundrel has spent the family money and her persistence pays off, in that the Chorus Girl takes out some earrings, broche and other objects, claiming that others have given them and when the spouse is still furious that all this amounts to only five hundred roubles, she adds the watch and whatever else she can find…the paradox and the nadir of humility is reached once the poor woman leaves, the husband comes out from a different room, overwhelmed by the lowering of his wife in front of such a ‘base girl’, who more or less means nothing, making it clear that all those involved in this triangle of love and even more hatred are placed in the most vicious position, a cheated wife, an abused lover and an insulting, vile husband…
Ladies
This short story reminds the under signed, and surely others from the same country, of our best author, Ion Luca Caragiale http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/04/o... whose satire incriminated corruption, nepotism, influence peddling, abuse of power, selfishness, cowardice, which are sentiments, feelings, shortcomings exposed in Ladies, where we find that a teacher had lost his voice and thus he is facing the director of the school, who says that he has to fire a man that has lost his ability to teach, but also feels obliged towards the individual who has done nothing wrong and has been hit by a potential calamitous loss…the director thinks what he can do, how to get out of this quandary and then eureka, he is happy to remember that they have a clerk who is leaving and thus the position is available and would be given to the teacher that has to stop attending classes…alas, Natasha Ivanovna, the wife of the principal, had already promised the position as a favor to one of her acquaintances and she presses the husband to understand that there is no way out of that pledge and though he is infuriated, hostile to this development that annihilates his own decision, he would play along, and when the poor unemployed is facing him again, the director is pouring his fury, inadequacy, feeling of guilt and vile character over the unfortunate, shouting…there is no job for you!
Romance with Double Bass
Perhaps we can end this note on the short stories of Anton Chekhov with a more amusing tale, which has a musician who plays the bass at the center and Princess Bibelova…the man enters this river to swim and when he reaches the shore back from his taking his pleasure, he finds that his clothes have been stolen and he has to think of a way out of the conundrum…the result of the analysis of the situation is that he will find refuge under a nearby bridge, until it gets dark, when he will escape and find some clothes at a house nearby, without being able to go and play music at the house of Prince Bibelov…nearby, Princess Bibelova has a problem with the hook of her fishing rod, which is entangled and when she enters the water to free it, upon return she finds she is without clothes and has the same strategy of hiding under the bridge where she finds the musician…the latter offers refuge in the case of the bass, assuring the girl that this way he and others will not be able to see her in the embarrassing position in which she has been placed and later, he will take her in the case and thus her ordeal will be ended…
As he puts his plan in motion though, the musician sees on the road the two people he suspects, or he is sure, that have taken his and the princess’ clothes and leaves the case – which is quite heavy, as we can imagine – on the road, to be able to catch up with the suspected thieves, but while he tries to get them, his colleagues pass by, see the case, realize it belongs to their friend and take it – confessing in the process that they would never choose to play the bass, seeing how heavy the instrument is – and when our protagonist returns, there is no case and he is forced to wonder around, return from under the bridge the next day and then another day, to the point where there is a legend in that area that at night, people can see a naked man coming out from under the bridge…
May 29, 2015
Putnik prve klase je odličan dokaz da oduvijek postoji pošast koju danas popularno nazivamo starletama, odnosno ljudi koji su popularni samo zbog svog izgleda ili šarma, i s druge strane, oni koji su svojim radom i zalaganjem za dobrobit društva zaslužili da budu poznati i voljeni širom svijeta, ali niko nikada nije čuo za njih. Priča neprolazne vrijednosti.
February 15, 2026
I loved this story. It is quite contrastingly strange to see how we celebrate people who have done nothing to us and then ignoring those who have done a lot in the society. The story shows us how ill-perceived by us the definition of celebrity and the way we do hero-worship. Even the one in the story who points to it gets questioned and left answerless by the vis-a-vis when he throws the question to the first class passenger; showing exactly how trivial yet true the question raised here in the story is!
May 8, 2023
Just two people criticizing the public about how we don't care, prioritize or know enough about people who provide us with services (like engineers) but we easily give all our attention to people who are influential because of their class, etc.
April 9, 2025
oh the irony
June 26, 2021
He should have committed an atrocity, then he would have become famous, or rather infamous.
April 23, 2023
This one was alright.
Possibly just not a story for me. But the ending was somewhat amusing.
Possibly just not a story for me. But the ending was somewhat amusing.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews